Waiting Kids in Your State

Waiting Children in U.S. Foster Care

Throughout the United States, more than 100,000 children and youth are in need of permanent adoptive families. For reasons such as abuse, neglect, and abandonment, their birth families are unwilling or unable to provide for the needs of these kids. Once the court has determined they cannot safely live with birth family, the search begins for a family willing to adopt. Unfortunately for many kids, the waiting time for that family can be months or even years.

The chart below shows the official number of children in your state’s foster care system waiting for adoptive families (as reported by states to the federal government). The number of children in foster care in each state is much higher – this number only represents those awaiting permanent families. The powerful point illustrated in the chart below is this: with the number of churches in the U.S., why should we have any waiting children in U.S. foster care?

To view pictures of some of the waiting children and youth, please visit the AdoptUSKids web site.